Microsoft® Excel® 2010 Formulas & Functions Inside Out

SUM()

Syntax. SUM(number1,number2,...)

Definition. This function adds all numbers specified as arguments.

Arguments

• number1 (required) and number2 (optional) The minimum number of values is 1, and the maximum is 255 (30 in Excel 2003 and earlier versions) that you want to add (but a second value makes sense for a sum). Instead of separate numbers, it is also possible to build a sum for a range of cells—for example, A1:A5.

Background. The result of an addition operation is called the sum. The sign for addition is the plus sign (+), but the Σ is also used:

x = a + b + c + d + ...

or

x = Σ(a, b, c, d...)

The arguments for the SUM() function can be numbers, logical values, and numerals when directly entered in the formula. For example:

• The logical value TRUE ...